IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 254 

Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in addressing the 

challenge of global maternal and child malnutrition. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2013 

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (for herself and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the importance of United States leadership in 

addressing the challenge of global maternal and child 

malnutrition. 

Whereas the United States and other partners contributed to 

reducing child deaths from 12,000,000 in 1990 to 

6,900,000 in 2011, and supported efforts to end preventable child deaths, and pledged to end preventable child 

deaths within a generation; 

Whereas food security and nutrition is foundational for 

human development, and persistent hunger and malnutrition stunts the mental and physical development of the 

next generation and hinders education, health, economics, 

and security; 

Whereas scaling up nutrition interventions can help reduce 

poverty, improve educational attainment, and improve 


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•HRES 254 IH 

lifetime earnings, and economic productivity, increasing a 

country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by as much as 

3 percent annually; 

Whereas leading Nobel Laureate economists have recommended that addressing hunger and malnutrition 

among young children should be the top priority for policymakers, identifying nutrition as the smartest investment with every $1 invested in nutrition generating as 

much as $138 in better health and increased productivity; 

Whereas reducing maternal and child malnutrition, especially 

in the critical 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2, 

is critical to increasing child survival, improving cognitive 

and physical development, strengthening the immune system to bolster resistance to disease, and breaking the 

cycle of poverty; 

Whereas nearly 850,000,000 people are chronically undernourished today, a condition that is responsible, directly 

or indirectly, for 45 percent of the 6,900,000 deaths 

among children under the age of 5 annually; 

Whereas additionally, 11 percent of global disease burden is 

attributable to maternal and child under-nutrition; 

Whereas a growing evidence base shows 1 in 4 of the world’s 

children is stunted and in developing countries this can 

rise to 1 in 3; 

Whereas 80 percent of the world’s stunted children live in 

just 14 countries; 

Whereas stunting leads to long-term poor health, impaired 

brain development, and decreased immunity; 


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Whereas 2,000,000,000 people are deficient in key vitamins 

and minerals, and over 165,000,000 children under the 

age of 5 are stunted as a result of malnutrition; 

Whereas nutrition is essential for food security, and the ongoing need to improve the nutritional quality of United 

States food assistance, particularly for vulnerable groups 

such as pregnant and lactating mothers and young children, with a focus on the cost-effective 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2; 

Whereas nearly 870,000,000 people worldwide suffer from 

food insecurity; 

Whereas food insecurity in developing countries forces tens of 

millions of people into poverty, contributes to political 

and social instability, erodes economic growth, and undermines United States foreign assistance investments in 

areas including basic education, global health, environmental protection, and democratic institutions; 

Whereas the United States plays a lead role in supporting 

Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), a global movement of 40 

governments, civil societies, international organizations, 

development partners, researchers, and businesses in a 

collective effort to prioritize malnutrition, particularly 

during the 1,000 day window of opportunity between a 

mother’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday, 

through effective policy, program implementation, and 

aligned support for national, costed nutrition plans, and 

dedicated national resources by the host countries; 

Whereas the United States, along with Ireland and other donors and partners, endorsed a call to action in September 

2010 at ‘‘1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future’’ and launched the 1,000 Days partnership to stimuVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:40 Jun 12, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR254.IH HR254

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late international and national leadership to respond with 

urgency to the nutrition challenge in support of country 

requests for improved collaboration through alliances and 

partnership; 

Whereas the United States committed to reducing under-nutrition by 20 percent in the targeted zones of the 19 

Feed the Future Focus countries and the Global Health 

Initiative countries by 2015, while also aiming to end 

preventable child deaths; 

Whereas country-led progress to adopt evidence-based policies 

to improve nutrition and reduce stunting has been documented, such as in Ethiopia where the rate of stunting 

among children under 5 decreased between 2000 and 

2011 from 57 percent to 44 percent through a strong 

safety net program and a comprehensive nutrition plan to 

scale up community nutrition programs, micronutrient 

supplementation, and promotion of optimal infant and 

young child feeding; and 

Whereas the Nutrition for Growth conference taking place on 

June 8, 2013, in London, England, is an important opportunity to continue collaboration and forge new partnerships to address malnutrition: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the Scaling Up Nutrition move3 ment as a global partnership to support country-led 

4 efforts to improve maternal and child nutrition in5 volving governments, civil society, international orga6 nizations, donors, businesses, and researchers; 

7 (2) supports United States leadership to scale 

8 up nutrition and improve nutrition outcomes for 


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1 pregnant and lactating women and young children, 

2 and support the Scaling Up Nutrition movement and 

3 the 1,000 Days partnership, which promotes tar4 geted action and investment to improve nutrition for 

5 mothers and children in the 1,000 days between a 

6 woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday; 

7 and 

8 (3) calls on relevant Federal agencies, including 

9 the United States Agency for International Develop10 ment, Department of State, Office of the Global 

11 AIDS Coordinator, Department of Agriculture, De12 partment of the Treasury, and Millennium Challenge 

13 Corporation to consider developing a nutrition strat14 egy to further ongoing coordination efforts to im15 prove indicators to track nutrition funding and out16 comes across United States Government global nu17 trition programs, especially those in health, food se18 curity, agriculture development, food aid, and water, 

19 sanitation, and hygiene. 

Æ 


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